FOX's Black Viewership: 1.38%.

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter tweeted that, according to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News has averaged just 29,000 black viewers in primetime so far this television season (9/09-7/10). That represents just 1.38% of its 2.102 million total viewer audience.

CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, both have far more black viewers, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of their overall audiences.

The most charitable interpretation of this is that FOX is an extremely partisan network, and black people tend to be the Democratic Party's most loyal constituency. The less charitable interpretation is that black people don't want to watch a network where the only time they see people who look like them on the screen is when FOX is discussing racist, election-stealing idiots who can't wait to start a race war so they can get back at white people. Maybe black people don't want to watch a network where people are surprised at their ability to eat at a public restaurant without using the word "motherfucker," and people fret about the "loss of the white Christian male power structure."

About the Author

Adam Serwer is a writing fellow at The American Prospect and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also blogs at Jack and Jill Politics and has written for The Village Voice, The Washington Post, The Root, and the Daily News. Follow @adamserwer